Only Deeks
by nherbie
Summary: Shelton Universe #3. Deeks is gone on an LAPD op and Kensi is left behind to worry. When the NCIS team is given a mission, what happens is a surprise to only one of them.
For those who celebrate it, Happy Easter!

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Jen Driscoll looked up when the new buzzer on the door to her shop went off, to find Marty Deeks grinning in at her. She hit the release button and he walked in. "Glad to see your new security at work! Much better than last time."

She laughed and said "Now, that wouldn't be much of a stretch, would it?" She stood up from her work station and walked around the counter, giving him a hug. "About time you showed up to pick up that ring!"

He grinned at her. "It's been a busy couple of weeks and we finally have some down time. It's been killing me to know it was ready and I couldn't get here to take it home. Now, where is it?" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

She laughed again, happy with the eagerness in his voice. "Wait here!" She turned, went into the backroom and unlocked her new safe to pull out his rings. She opened the box one last time, knowing it was his but feeling a connection to this piece that she rarely felt with others. It sparkled up at her in the light and she smiled at it gently. "You're a one of a kind and, from everything I've heard, you're going to a one of a kind woman. I hope you bring her happiness, luck and a good life." She snapped the box shut and carried it back out to the shop front. "Here you go!" She handed him the box and watched as he opened it, seeing the finished product for the first time. His reaction didn't disappoint her.

"Jen, it's even more beautiful than I could have imagined. She's going to love it, I just know it!" He stared at the ring and pictured it on Kensi's hand, feeling a tightening in his chest. He touched it reverently and looked up to find her watching him closely. Smiling, he asked. "Were you worried I wouldn't like it after all?"

"It's the chance I take whenever I custom design a piece. I've had people rave about a design, saying it's everything they wanted and when they come to pick it up, they turn their nose up and say it wasn't what they wanted at all."

"What do you do in a case like that?"

"What can I do? I have them sign a contract but it's really just a front. It's not in me to force them to purchase something that's a part of me and, if I don't refund their deposit, they tell friends who tell their friends and suddenly I don't have any customers left. Instead, I just grit my teeth, apologize and put it out for sale with the rest of my pieces, hoping it will be just what someone else wanted. Almost all the time, it turns out to be the perfect gift for someone else. Maybe things just work out the way they're meant to. And, most of them come back for another try and usually don't back out a second time. Even I'm not a big enough sucker to refund a second time."

He smiled at her and said "That's a pretty great attitude. Now, what's the damage?" They'd agreed to a price range earlier and he'd left a deposit, but wasn't sure what the final balance due was. She handed him an invoice and he frowned down at it. "Jen, this is much less than we agreed on." He had a sudden thought and asked. "Did Laura pay for any of this?" Laura had generously offered to help him pay for the ring but he'd assured her he had more than enough put away. One of the positive benefits of working undercover for months at a time was that you lived on the LAPD dime. All you had to do was make sure the rent on your place was paid and you socked away the rest of your paycheck. He looked up at Jen to find her blushing. "What's going on Jen?"

"I lowered the price to thank you for stopping the robbery. I could have lost everything! And for sending Troy, uh, Mr. Ashton, over to give me the security review. He gave me an excellent price and got the work done so quickly."

"Troy, huh?"

She looked up at him to see a huge grin on his face and found herself answering with one of her own. "Okay, yeah, Troy. He was so nice when he came by for the survey and we ended up talking late into the night. He asked me out and we had a great time. We've been out three more times since then and it's really nice to have someone like that in my life."

"I had a feeling you and Troy would hit it off!"

She slugged him in the shoulder. "Were you playing matchmaker Mr. Deeks?"

He rubbed his shoulder; this was becoming a reoccurring theme with him, women and fists to the body. "Not really. I just wanted you to upgrade your security and, if something more came of it, then so be it."

"Well, it worked out great. I feel much safer here with all the security upgrades. The landlord even paid for half of the work as it stays behind when I go and makes the store more desirable. Now, are you going to pay for this thing or wait until I leave it to you in my will?"

They laughed and he pulled out his checkbook, writing out the check with a flourish and handing it to her. "Are you going to be there?"

"I wouldn't miss it!" She put the ring into a bag with her store's logo on it.

He smirked at her and said. "Feel free to bring Troy along!" He ducked the next fist and laughed as he headed out the door. "See you Friday!"

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Kensi stared at her partner's empty desk. He'd been gone on an LAPD op for two and a half days. Not that long. Forever. She hated it when she didn't know where he was, if he was safe, she couldn't be there to have his back, couldn't have him home at night to snuggle up to. Plus, it was Friday and the weekend was looming ahead of her without him. She sighed and went back to pecking away at outstanding paperwork. They only had one active case, missing artillery from the Coronado Navy Base but it was at a standstill. She pecked a couple more keys and sighed again, earning her amused looks from Sam and Callen. They exchanged looks and Callen raised an eyebrow at Sam. Sam just smiled and shook his head. Two hours later, Eric's whistle sounded and they all looked up to find him standing on the landing.

"We may have caught a break in the Coronado arms case. Hetty wants you up in ops." He turned and went back up the stairs. The three agents below stood up and followed him. When they entered ops they found not only Hetty, but Granger and Agents Jim Franklin and Charlie Porter. Frowning they turned to Hetty who forestalled any questions by beginning the briefing.

"We have positive intelligence that the weapons stolen from Coronado are to be sold to a local gang at this warehouse. The exchange is supposedly scheduled for approximately 8 PM tonight. Eric?"

Eric threw a picture of the warehouse up on the plasma and said. "This is the warehouse on East Olympic, it's currently abandoned. We've gone back over traffic cam footage and the Intel looks solid. We have footage of known gang members entering and exiting the warehouse several times over the last few weeks."

Hetty turned to her agents and said. "As we are down a man, I would like you to work with Agents Franklin and Porter on this. I don't need to remind you that military grade weapons in the hands of gang members is not good for anyone. Remember the fallout from when the Southland Kings bought weapons from Nelson Sanders. We were able to recover most of those thanks to your team, but not before blowing up several vehicles and disrupting a section of Los Angeles. I would prefer a…quieter… resolution this time."

The agents nodded and left ops, Kensi trailing behind, feeling like the proverbial third, or was that fifth, wheel. They geared up and left OSP with Franklin in the lead, Porter with him. Sam, Callen and Kensi following in the Challenger. They'd been on the road for about ten minutes when Kensi realized they were going the long way. She leaned forward and said to Sam. "Why are we going this way? It would have been faster to go down South Grand to West Olympic. We're going way out of our way."

Callen shrugged and said. "We're just following Franklin. Do you want me to find out if he knows where he's going?"

"No, no, I'm sure he does." She settled back in her seat, watching the scenery pass, missing Deeks by her side. Eventually, they both pulled into the parking lot of the warehouse and exited their cars, the sky overhead darkening as night fell. Franklin and Porter agreed to take the front entrance and Sam, Callen and Kensi took the back. When the other two agents were in place, the go came and they breached. Callen motioned to Sam to go right, Kensi center and that he would go left. The warehouse was dingy and dark, not much light getting in through the years of dirt covering the windows. Eventually Kensi was standing in pitch black as the sun finally set.

Over coms she heard "Clear" from Sam, Callen, Franklin and Porter.

She tapped her earwig and said "Uh guys, it's too dark for me to give the all clear from where I am. Can you circle back around to me?"

Callen's voice came back over coms and said. "Take two steps forward Kens."

"Why?"

"Just do it." She trusted her team leader so took two steps forward and a spotlight came on. In it was Deeks, sitting on a stool with a guitar in his hand, Monty sitting at his feet. Her jaw dropped open and then snapped shut when another spotlight came on, this time highlighting her. He looked at her and started to play, a band hidden in the semi-darkness behind him, joining in. She could sense other people in the room, around the perimeter.

She recognized the music; he'd been playing it around the house for a couple of weeks now. She listened to the words and knew what was coming. She was thrilled. She was scared out of her mind. She knew what her answer was going to be. The song started with a meeting between a girl named Tracey and a boy named Jason. It morphed into Kensi and Marty, followed by Melissa and Justin and back to Kensi and Marty. Each portion of the story telling the tale of a love growing from an unlikely beginning to the kind of love most people dream of finding. When he finished, he gently tapped Monty on the behind and the dog got up, picked something up in his mouth and slowly made his way towards her, a new spotlight splitting off from Deeks to follow the dog.

"Kensi, we started as partners who didn't trust each other. The trust came with time. You became my friend, then my best friend, then the love of my life. You are the most important thing in this world to me." He paused as Monty reached her, sat down and rose up into the begging pose, graceful despite his shaggy appearance. "Kensi Marie Blye, will you do us the great honor of marrying us?"

She swallowed hard and looked down at Monty, who was waiting patiently. She reached down and took what she now saw was a black velvet box from his mouth. She rubbed his head and he licked her hand before settling back down on all four paws. She opened the box and her mouth dropped open again. It was so beautiful and so exactly what she would have picked out for herself. The sapphires reminded her of her dress from Cassie and Paula's wedding and the hearts reminded her of the two of them, finally coming together. She looked up to find he'd walked up to her. He took the box from her hand, pulled the ring out, got down on one knee and looked up into her eyes. "What's your answer?"

She couldn't speak; she just nodded and held out her hand to put the ring on it. He slipped it on and stood up, kissing her hand. She looked closer at the ring and noticed something on the side. She gasped and asked. "Is that a fern?" The design was incomplete and most people wouldn't have known what it was but this was special to them.

"It is. When I place the wedding ring on your finger the day you marry me, the design will be complete and so will I." Every woman in the room sighed and several men swallowed hard, wondering how they could top that.

He pulled her into him to kiss her and, with his lips almost on hers he said. "You said yes!"

She smiled and replied. "Well, you know, Monty!"

"Monty, huh?"

"Well, like you once said, Monty's quite the catch. I guess if I have to put up with you too, it's a cross I'll just have to bear." He huffed out a laugh and kissed her. She put her arms around his neck and put every ounce of the love she felt for him into the kiss. She heard someone shout "Get a room!" and they broke apart laughing.

Deeks took her left hand, turned and yelled. "She said yes!" The lights went on and she saw all their friends and family applauding. There were balloons all over the place and streamers hanging from the ceiling.

Looking at him, she raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure of yourself there, weren't you?"

"Not sure, hopeful. If you'd said no, I would've had to leave town under cover of darkness, probably even the state, if not the country." He pulled her into him and nuzzled her neck. She went to pull him into her and got caught on the rifle at her side, reminding her of why she thought they'd come here.

She pulled out of his arms and said. "Damn it Deeks! I'm going to kill you!"

He looked at her in shock and asked "What the hell did I do now?"

"How are we supposed to answer our kids when they ask how daddy proposed? Oh kids, it was so lovely! Daddy wrote a song and sang it for her in front of everyone. He had Monty carry a ring to her that was custom designed. And when they ask, what was mommy wearing? How am I supposed to answer that I was in full tactical gear right down to an automatic rifle?"

He started to laugh and said. "Oh Fern, knowing us, don't you think our kids will find that absolutely perfect?" She heard laughter and agreement from around the room and found she wasn't as upset as she felt she should be. All in all, it was a pretty memorable proposal. She shook her head and smiled at him. He grinned back and pulled her into the crowd of people waiting for them. Sam and Callen helped her out of her tactical gear and put it with theirs. Seeing that Nell, Eric, Hetty and Granger were there, now she understood why they had gone the long way around. It had given the rest of the NCIS group to get there. She looked around once more and was amazed at how many people there were. Franklin and his wife, Deeks's musical show buddies. Sheila Karle and her husband. Peter Chin from forensics. Lt. Bates and his wife Angela Tully Bates, along with Stan Wolinsky.

The whole gang of girls was there with their offsetting band of boys. Meaghan was there as were Aiden and Kamran. She recognized Ken Sampson from the Timmons case; she knew Deeks had become friends with him when his law firm had dropped that particular case. She frowned at the woman by his side, she looked familiar and when the woman bent down to pick up a toddler, the pieces fell into place.

"Deeks, is that the woman from the plane, on the case when we went to Boston?" It wasn't really a time she wanted to remember. They'd almost lost themselves over that one.

"Yup, Isabelle was looking for a legal secretary job and Ken just happened to have one. He hired her and they started dating about two months later. They're engaged and after they get married, he's going to adopt Melanie."

She smiled up at him and he said. "Come on. There's someone I need you to meet." He pulled her over to a group of people by Laura and John. When they reached them he said "Jen?"

A pretty brunette turned and smiled at him. "You sure did good Marty!" She reached out and hugged him. Kensi's first reaction was to yank him away but she pushed it down. She had his ring on her finger now and wasn't afraid to use it.

"Thanks Jen. I wanted you to meet Kensi face to face. Kens, this is Jennifer Driscoll. She's the artist who crafted your rings." He smiled down at her. Kensi turned to face Jen and then noticed the man hovering behind her. The boyfriend? Okay, that would work.

She smiled at Jen and said. "It's so beautiful! It's perfect, especially the fern on the side!"

Jen smiled back and said. "I was given a lot of information from Marty and Nell so that made it easy!"

"So that's what the two of you were up to when I caught you locked in the burn room?" Kensi asked.

Jen cocked her head and asked. "Burn room? Caught you and Nell?"

Deeks cleared his throat and was saved when the man with Jen stepped forward. "Seeing as how neither of these two has the courtesy of a gnat, I'll introduce myself. I'm Troy Ashton, a college buddy of Marty's." He stuck his hand out and Kensi shook it.

"Are you a lawyer?"

Troy laughed. "Nope, unlike some people here, I didn't spend all that money on law school, days studying, three days of hell known as the bar exam and working two years as a Public Defender before I figured out I didn't want to be a lawyer. I was smart enough to figure it out after my second year and I dropped out. Started my own Security and Alarm Company."

Jen piped in. "That's how Troy and I met. After the robbery attempt, Marty had Troy come over to assess my place for security needs and one thing led to another." She smiled up at him and he looked completely gone.

"Wait, robbery?" Kensi put her hands on her hips and looked at him.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't exactly tell you about it, now could I? How would I answer the question as to why I was there with the gang of girls?" He replied.

"They were all there?"

Jen laughed and said. "It was one of the best nights I'd had in a long time. Everyone got along so well. We all had a couple glasses of wine, voted on the ring and things were going so well when the two guys in ski masks carrying guns came in."

"Voted on the ring design?"

Jen heard a bit of disappointment in Kensi's voice and she put a hand on her arm, lowered her voice and said. "It was just a formality to make all your friends feel like they had a say in something so important. He let me know the day I showed him the dozen or so designs, that that was the one. When the girls pranked him by voting for the other designs, I thought he was going to pass out."

Kensi had to laugh at the image of a Deeks who was confident of a certain outcome, having the tables turned on him. "So what happened with the robbery?"

"Well, they came in and said they wanted all our jewelry and money plus everything in the store. It pretty much would have ruined me, even though I'm insured to a point. Marty pulled out his gun, yelled LAPD and I almost fell over when I heard it followed by "NCIS, CIA, FBI, DEA and.." Deeks put his hand over her mouth and tried to stop it. But Kensi finished it for her.

"Let me guess? M-O-U-S-E?" Deeks dropped his hand from Jen's mouth in defeat.

"Yes, it was hysterical…at least in retrospect. For me, it was pretty scary when it happened, as it was the first time I'd even seen a gun up close and now I had seven of them out and aimed at people in my shop!"

Deeks grinned at her and said. "So, after it was all over, I told her I'd have a friend who works for a security company come over to look at her place and the rest is history."

Kensi grinned back and leaned into him. "You just can't resist, can you?"

"Resist?" He asked innocently.

"Putting people together. I know Tara and Dave were introduced by you, as well as Isabelle and Ken, now Jen and Troy. Are you thinking of starting your own matchmaking business?"

He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I'm happy. I found the love of my life. I'd like to see the people I care about find the same."

She leaned harder into him and said "You're a good guy, you know that?"

"Took you long enough to figure it out!" He retorted.

Nell and Eric finally got to them and Nell pulled her into a big hug. "I'm so happy for you Kensi! I just know you'll have a wonderful life together!"

Kensi hugged her back and said. "Thanks for making sure he didn't pick out some square monstrosity!" They both laughed and stepped apart.

Eric stepped in and gave her an awkward hug. He stepped back quickly and said "So what did you think of the spotlights? That was my idea!"

"It was wonderful, Eric! What made you think of it?" she asked.

"I was in the theatre club from grade school through college and I learned about all aspects of putting on a good show." He answered proudly. "I set up and worked the spotlights! Oh! And I recorded the whole thing!"

"Why am I not surprised?" She asked.

She laughed when she heard Granger shout out "I'm opening the champagne. If you want some you better get over here. With this crew, it'll be gone in seconds!" She heard the popping of several bottles and saw Sam and Callen had popped a couple of their own. It was then she noticed the food and alcohol all set out and found herself getting choked up. They'd done all this for her and Deeks. What a story they'd have to tell their kids.

She watched her partner, no _fiancé_ , mingle and laugh with their friends and family as the two of them circulated and accepted hugs and congratulations. She watched him tease her mom and wondered when they'd become so carefree with each other. She realized now that there was no LAPD op or stolen arms from Coronado and that everyone, including Bates, had gladly participated in his ruse. It must have taken a lot of work to coordinate all this. She was pretty sure Nell had organized things. While Deeks was OCD about cleanliness and could be pretty organized, organizing something like this, something so important to him, would have taken months as he found something that needed to be tweaked every other minute. She thought about the whole night and realized she wouldn't change a thing. Only Deeks would be able to come up with such a bizarre but absolutely perfect way to propose to her. Only Deeks. And only Deeks would do for her.

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A/N – I had several people give me suggestions on how Deeks proposes to Kensi and I loved them all. In the end I decided to "marry" them (yes, I am that cheesy!) and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoyed it.

Honus47 requested he ask her in song. - Check!

OhBuddy66's suggestion - Here's what I think as far as the proposal goes; I think it would be awesome if Deeks gets Hetty to assist with sending the team out on an op of some sort. Maybe Deeks goes in alone and then under the guise of him being in trouble and needing pulled out, the team breaches to save Deeks - only for Kensi to find him down on one knee? Of course, the whole team will have been in on it and all their friends and family are there with Deeks? I don't know - just seems it would be like Deeks NOT to do something normal. - Didn't check all the boxes but I tried!

Beepmybanana and one of my Guest reviewers suggested that Laura would offer to help pay for the rings. I didn't write a scene between them but snuck it in with his conversation with Jen when he wonders if she went ahead and did it anyway.


End file.
